Rosie O' Donnell on Whitney Houston's sexuality, "I knew it for a long time"

Whitney Houston's sexuality has been the subject of much discussion since the release of, British documentary filmmaker, Nick Broomfield's unauthorized depiction of the diva's life. The early-2017 released documentary, 'Can I Be Me', largely focused on the Houston' affection towards her long-time pal and manager, Robyn Crawford and the possibility of them being "more than just friends."Adding more fuel to the speculations, former TV show host and comedienne, Rosie O' Donnell spilled more on what she alleges to have known for years.During her recent visit to 'Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen', O' Donnell claimed she knew about the singer's sexuality way before it became a public discussion. “Everyone sort of knew it,” she said. “I didn’t know them [Whitney & Robyn] as a couple per se, but I knew that they were together.” The 55 year old also claimed that Houston hung around with several older lesbian women who she also happened to be friends with."That’s sort of the group [they hung out with], all of these basketball-playing women. So, I knew that and I knew it for a very long time,” O' Donnell said.Expressing her surprise at Clive Davis' denial of ever knowing about Houston's sexuality while managing her through the years, Rosie states it was very "surprising" for her to see Davis come out and state he never discussed it with her.“Well, I don’t believe that for one minute,” she said.

Watch Rosie's interview with Andy Cohen below:

In the Broomfield-directed controversial documentary, Whitney's former stylist Ellin Lavar also gave a few inputs on the late diva's orientation. “I don’t think she was gay, I think she was bisexual,” Lavar was seen telling.

Houston, on the other hand, had always strongly denied any such claim expressing her distress over being questioned on her orientation time and again. The legendary diva persistently maintained that she was not gay.In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stones, Houston stressed on how fed-up she was of being asked the same questions revolving around her friendship with Robyn. "Our relationship is that we're friends," she told the publication. "We've been friends since we were kids. She now is my employee. I'm her employer. And we're still best of friends. That's what it is."She further stated in her answer, "You mean to tell me that if I have a woman friend, I have to have a lesbian relationship with her? That's bullsh*t. There are so many, so many female artists who have women as their confidantes, and nobody questions that. So I realize that it's like "Whitney Houston – she's popular, let's f*ck with her." I have denied it over and over again, and nobody's accepted it. Or the media hasn't."Interestingly, despite Whitney's support for the LGBT community, which included her performing at the 1998 Pride March in NYC - her mother, Cissy Houston, clearly stated during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, that she would have been absolutely "bothered" had her daughter been gay.An outlook, as many fans believe, contributed to Houston's downfall.